Cultural Icon, David Bowie Dies. But Lives Forever

The first song that brought me to the cradles of David Bowie was Fame. There was something so irresistibly dynamic about the tune and the instruments chimed in with symbiotic pompousness. And then of course that voice – brimming with total command and elation. It was breathtaking. I was immediately smitten and stayed true to my new and current love. For David Bowie.

It didn’t take me long to comprehend the fact that I had discovered someone who was unlike anyone or anything I had ever known. He was beyond human. He was a creature of the elements that are summoned for flight into a territory that only very few can venture with ease.

He belonged to everybody but nobody belonged to him. I had a crush on him because first and foremost he was an artist. A brilliant mind that could conceive an alter ego named Ziggy Stardust – a strikingly flamboyant and high-octane character that embodied the facets an era where being glam was defined through countless borders of the spectrum.

It was the early seventies – an era that accommodated boundless expression and exploration – and the very British and intoxicating David Jones who later became David Bowie before becoming Ziggy Stardust was able to internalize the potency in the air long enough to be blessed with the everlasting quest for creative manipulation.

He possessed the fluidity in his sexuality that gave him permission to submit himself without reservation to the layered propellers of life.

And his music demonstrated that urgency and depth of knowledge that increased his ability to keep his distance in a way that made him unattainable but yet accessible.

He passed away on January 16, 2016 after an 18-month battle with cancer. Two days prior to his death, the famed musician who celebrated his 69^th birthday, released his final album, Blackstar.

He also co-wrote an Off Broadway musical, Lazarus – that seemed to eerily evoke the sentiment of death in a biblical sense.

Some say that the man who redefined the true meaning of an icon – used his art to convey the next phase of his life, which wouldn’t be him living but rather transcending to another realm.

It’s hard to think of David Bowie as dead. Maybe it sounds so final and dull. He lived the most vibrant life ever imagined. He was the hubby of Somalian-born model – Iman and father to their fifteen-year-old daughter, Alexandria. He also has a son, Duncan Jones, a film director, who confirmed his father’s death via Twitter, “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all”.

How do you day farewell to a legend? You don’t.

A concert that had already been scheduled in his honor will go on as planned. The date is March 31, and the venue will be Carnegie Hall – The Roots and Cyndi Lauper will be part of a lineup that will undoubtedly be epic.

An epic event for an epic guy, who re-shaped, distorted and revamped pop culture in ways that will resonate forever.

And if you can’t have forever – it’s not worth sacrificing.

David Bowie has died to live forever. Live on!